


Next Time... Wake Me

by unlmtdsky



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Anxiety, Biotic Shepard (Mass Effect), Colonist (Mass Effect), Dealing with past trauma, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Insecurity, Light Angst, Love, Mass Effect 3, Scars, Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:20:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25559470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unlmtdsky/pseuds/unlmtdsky
Summary: Kaidan tells Shepard to wake him the next time she wakes up before him. A few days later, she does.
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard
Comments: 7
Kudos: 45





	1. Next time...

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This story lovingly borrows characters, situations, lore, settings, etc from the world and creators of Mass Effect. I do not own these characters or the world they inhabit. This work is intended for entertainment purposes only.
> 
> A/N: I have a hard time imagining a second-half of ME3 for Shepard and Kaidan that isn’t a messy, complicated mixture of light and dark, happiness and angst. This is the first time (other than that month or so after Sovereign) when they've really gotten to experience being together as an actual couple, dealing with things as a couple -- and that's happening while Shepard is in charge of managing this massive war effort, which is really taking its toll on her emotionally by this point. I just want the light and happy for her so, so much, but given all that's happened by this point, the dark and angsty can’t help but sneak it’s way in, no matter how much I set out to write something that’s purely light and fluffy. She's got too much shit in her past that she and Kaidan haven't been able to work through together yet.

At first, Jane didn’t notice Kaidan when she entered Starboard Observation. Kaidan had unofficially claimed this room as his own after joining the Normandy SR-2, and he spent most of his downtime between missions here—when he wasn’t spending time with her, at least. She could usually find him sitting on one of the couches just inside the door or leaning up against the viewport, forearm braced against the windowpane as he stared out onto the vastness of space.

A flicker of disappointment coursed through her when she didn’t find him, but Jane lingered in the room, approaching the observation window and taking in the view for herself. She could understand why someone like Kaidan sought out the solitude of this room and why last year Samara, a centuries-old asari justicar, had done the same. But these days, the infinite expanse of stars stretching out beyond the window didn’t hold quite the same sense of awe and beauty for Jane as it once had, and though she had to admit the view was sort of peaceful, she also found it unsettling. This view was the last thing she’d seen before her death.

Jane shook her head as if to ward off the melancholy thoughts threatening at the edges of her mind, then turned to leave. She was about to walk over to the mess to see if Kaidan had headed that way for a late meal when a movement on the far side of the room drew her attention, causing her to pause.

“Over here,” Kaidan called to her the moment he realized she had noticed him. Kaidan was reclining in a chair in the corner, wearing a dark crewman’s uniform and somehow looking both casual and sexy. Jane had always thought him effortlessly attractive, something which never failed to inspire a twinge of self-consciousness about her own appearance, a self-consciousness she had become adept at concealing beneath her role as the confident, assertive Commander Shepard. In Kaidan’s hand was a datapad that he had apparently been reading until he lowered it to his lap, which was the movement that had caught Jane’s eye.

Jane smiled brightly upon seeing him and made her way across the room. She paused next to his chair, crossing her arms and leaning her weight back on one foot in what any Normandy crew member would recognize as her customary stance.

“Hey, Shepard,” he said, reaching out and resting a hand on her hip as he smiled up at her. The way her name sounded in his mouth, his voice soft and low, caused something to flutter pleasantly in her stomach.

“Hey, Kaidan. Just checking in.” Jane tried to match his sultry tone, pitching her voice in a lower register than she’d normally use for a casual greeting with one of her crew.

This caused the corners of Kaidan’s mouth to quirk up in that sexy smile he reserved only for her. She nearly melted at the sight. “I’m glad,” he replied. He used his hold on her hip to tug her gently towards him, and she unfolded her arms as she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Say, you, uh—you left without waking me,” he added after she pulled back. His whiskey brown eyes sparkled with a dark mischief as they studied her.

“Hmm,” Jane replied, straightening. She could feel her cheeks heating at the suggestion underneath his words. “I didn’t have the heart.”

He chuckled softly, the sound a rough purr in his chest. “Well, thanks, but next time… wake me.”

It would only be a few days before Jane would get the chance.

*****


	2. Wake Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This ended up taking much longer to finish than I anticipated because I got a bit sidetracked with a different project and because Shepard took me on a bit of a journey as I started working on revising this chapter. Her traumatic past insisted on rearing its ugly head, and Shepard had to work through some things before she could get back to someplace familiar and solid with Kaidan. So please bear with her as she deals with some of her past trauma and insecurities, and I promise she and Kaidan do get there in the end. :)

Jane often awoke before her alarm, and today was no different. But what _was_ different today was that she was also awake before Kaidan. That didn’t happen very often. In fact, she could only think of maybe a couple of other times it had, including just the other day... when he had told her to wake him the next time it happened.

Even without opening her eyes, Jane knew Kaidan was still asleep because she could hear him snoring softly beside her. He never believed her when she told him that he snored sometimes, so it made her smile into her pillow knowing she had caught him in the act yet again. She was almost tempted to pull up her omni-tool and start recording. _Almost_.

It had only been a couple weeks since the dinner date at Apollo’s where they had officially reconciled, and ever since, Kaidan had ended up in Jane’s bed at the end of the night as often as not, though they hadn’t done much more than talk and fool around before falling asleep in each other’s arms. They hadn't actually _slept_ together... yet. Neither one of them had expected things to immediately snap back to the way things had been during those blissful few weeks after Sovereign and before Alchera (why did so much of her life have to be measured between catastrophic events?). It had been a long time, and a lot had happened between them and to them since then.

One thing that no longer stood between them, however, was the Alliance. This late in the game, after all the shit they’d suffered through to get here, Jane had to admit she was long past caring about Alliance fraternization regs. She and Kaidan were both Spectres now, and anyway, the Alliance needed its famous Commander Shepard. She didn’t think Anderson or Hackett—or anyone else, for that matter—would blame her for seeking out some happiness in these dark times. So now her nights (and her early mornings) had the potential to be sleepless for enjoyable reasons rather than the usual ones, and that thought made her smile even wider.

Still grinning, Jane gently rolled onto her side and opened her eyes. Kaidan was still asleep, and even in the near darkness of her cabin, she could see his bare chest rising and falling slowly with each breath. She watched him sleeping for several minutes, content simply to revel in the warmth of his presence in her bed. Just this, a stolen moment to watch this man sleeping peacefully beside her, seemed like such a gift. It was certainly something she hadn’t even dared to hope she might experience again until a little over a month ago.

Jane was still hoping to rouse Kaidan herself this morning, and she knew it was only a matter of time before his internal alarm clock would have him waking up on his own. The sheets on the bed had shifted somewhat while they slept, pooling loosely around both of their waists, and Jane reached for them, slowly pushing the sheets further down the bed until they rested somewhere around their knees. EDI kept the temperature in her quarters comfortable, which was good since Jane was clad in a loose t-shirt and panties while Kaidan wore only a pair of his usual black boxer briefs. With a wry smile, she observed a bulge in those briefs—evidence of his morning arousal. _She could work with that._

Moving as cautiously as she could so as not to wake him too quickly, Jane reached her hand over and rested it lightly on Kaidan’s chest. It was the same gesture she had wanted to extend to him two months ago when they had taken him to Huerta Memorial after Mars; just the awful memory of him lying battered and unconscious on that hospital bed threatened to drag her somewhere dark. She steadied herself with a long, deep breath and watched as he shifted ever so slightly at her touch but otherwise showed no signs of stirring. Slowly, Jane began to draw her hand down Kaidan’s chest, tracing a line with her finger. As she did, she summoned a tiny biotic spark, which flickered to life in a whisper of blue energy where her finger made contact with Kaidan’s skin. She could feel his energy calling to hers even as he slept, and she subtly flared her biotics, letting her energy reach for him.

Kaidan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as if in concentration, and his breathing hitched almost imperceptibly at the same moment she felt the familiar tingling thrill of his biotics as they responded subconsciously to hers; though he hadn’t awoken, he was no longer snoring, hovering somewhere along the line between fitful sleep and wakefulness. Jane suppressed her biotics but continued moving her hand downward, wanting to see how close she could push him towards the edge of consciousness before he fell over it. She smiled softly to herself as she watched her fingers tease over the sexy thin line of dark hair that trailed down from his navel and disappeared beneath the waistband of his underwear.

When her fingertips finally met fabric, she shifted, angling her whole body towards him, allowing her to slide her cupped hand down to palm his bulge over his briefs. She immediately felt his cock twitch beneath her touch, and she began gently stroking him through the fabric. At the same time, she leaned over and nuzzled at his neck, kissing the tender skin under his jaw.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Jane murmured in his ear when she felt him stir suddenly awake beside her. He lifted up his arm, and she raised her head for a moment to let him settle it beneath her so he could cradle her body closer to his. She didn’t pull her hand away or cease stroking him.

“Mmmm,” Kaidan groaned, his eyes still closed. His voice was still thick with sleep, but Jane could hear desire in his voice, too. “You’re right, this is a good morning.”

Jane let out a breathy laugh and nipped at his ear. “You _did_ tell me to wake you,” she reminded him, keeping her voice low and husky as she continued her ministrations, feeling him grow even harder beneath her hand.

“Hmm. I did say that, didn’t I.” He opened one eye and glanced over at her. “Come here,” he said, reaching for her with his free arm. She let out a decidedly un-Commanderlike shriek of surprise as Kaidan suddenly pulled her on top of him, shifting her so that she was straddling his hips and her hands were braced against his chest. Jane could feel the hardness of his cock pressing against her, and a sharp bolt of heat sizzled through her.

It had been so long— _years_ —since they had last been together like this (since she had last had sex at all, she realized), and all she desperately wanted was to rock her hips against his. But before she could move, Kaidan placed his hands on her thighs, gently holding her in place. His thumbs caressed her skin as he gazed up at her and said, “I couldn’t have asked to wake up to a better view.” Jane rolled her eyes, cheeks flushing in embarrassment at the compliment, and she leaned down to cut off his words with a kiss. Kaidan brought his hands up to cup her face, stopping her before their lips could meet. “I mean it. You are the most beautiful woman in the whole galaxy.”

For a moment, Jane felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. Her emerald eyes went wide as his words resurrected a memory from her youth*, a day when such similar words had been spoken to her and that she had tried so very hard to forget. But suddenly she was remembering a picnic by a pond and the taste of sweet strawberry wine and feeling the warm summer breeze caressing her bare skin and she was looking into a pair of brown eyes, much darker than Kaidan’s, that belonged to a boy who had kissed her and kissed her and then—

Jane squeezed her eyes shut, trying to slow her racing heart and stop the onslaught of memories from pulling her out of this moment. Because she was here with Kaidan _now_. She wasn’t back there with the dark-eyed boy who had told her she was the most beautiful girl in the galaxy and that he loved her. She wasn’t back there with the boy who had held onto her hand as they ran through a blazing field of wheat, fleeing the fire and the smoke and the terrible sound of her mother’s screams. She wasn’t back there with the boy who had looked at her with wide, terrified eyes when he’d realized what she was and what she could do, the boy who had screamed at her to get away from him, words that had cut so deep after the sweet ones he had whispered in her ear earlier that afternoon. She wasn’t back there, she wasn’t—

Jane took in a trembling breath and let out a long, slow exhale, trying to calm herself. When she finally opened her eyes, even in the darkness she could see that Kaidan was studying her carefully, his hands still cupping her cheeks. He hadn’t let go of her or said anything yet, hadn’t called her out on what was certainly an abnormal reaction to such a simple thing as being told one was beautiful.

But it wasn’t that simple for her. Jane had lived a soldier’s life for a long time now, so long that she barely remembered anything else. And in all that time, no one had ever told her that she was beautiful and meant it. Not really. Not since Mindoir. Jane had escaped Mindoir with her life, _barely_ , and she’d had the facial scars and other less visible ones to prove it. She had no family left, and those scars and her sometimes brusque demeanor meant that she didn’t have many close friends, not until the Normandy, anyway. In Jane’s experience, the only time people complimented her was when they wanted something from her. Compliments were usually a means to an end, so she had a difficult time seeing them as anything other than an attempt at manipulation. And she'd always been afraid of letting people get close to her, been afraid they might betray or reject or fear her if they got to know the real her. So not letting people in, not letting people see the real her?—it was an act of self-preservation. She had lost too much and been hurt too many times. So, yeah, it just wasn’t that simple for her.

Jane realized that she had been quiet for far too long. Her eyes flicked back and forth between Kaidan’s, and she tried to read his thoughts, though what he might be thinking at this moment was a mystery to her. He seemed content just to hold her, to give her time to work through whatever he had unwittingly triggered with his words. And then Jane had the thought that for the first time in a long time, here was someone who didn’t want anything from her. Kaidan just wanted her. And he was waiting for her.

“Kaidan, I—” she finally began, moving her right hand to his cheek and splaying her fingers against the side of his face; the gesture was tentative, almost as if she just needed to touch him to make sure that he was real. She felt tears beginning to well in her eyes and she blinked, trying to stop them from forming.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he whispered soothingly, caressing her cheek with his thumb. “I’ve got you, it’s alright.” He paused, then said quietly, “I love you.”

And she believed him. _Gods_ , she believed him. They had been through so much, and it hadn't always been easy. But they had seen the best parts of each other and the worst parts, too, and they had still found their way back to each other. Her flesh and bones had literally been ripped apart and pieced back together—something Jane still had a difficult time accepting, if she were being honest—and he still thought she was beautiful. She believed him when he said it, even if she didn't know what to do with it. And he still loved her in spite of everything. He was still here.

She just nodded at him then, blinking away her tears as she leaned in, their lips finally crashing together in a desperate kiss. He opened for her, and she tilted her head slightly, slanting her mouth against his, claiming it. As their tongues met, hers sweeping into his mouth, she finally rolled her hips against Kaidan’s, drawing a low, guttural moan from him.

“Mmmm, _Jane_ …” he breathed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to his chest. The back of her shirt had ridden up when she’d moved on top of him, and Kaidan’s hands met her bare skin. His fingers traced over the muscles of her back, blindly following by touch the pattern of smooth scars that ran along her spine and spanned the width of her back in several places. Jane had the sudden desire to sit up, to pull down her shirt, to conceal her scars from him; they had been slowly reacquainting themselves with each other’s bodies, but she hadn’t yet let him see her fully bare. While Dr. Chakwas had been able to help heal Jane's facial scars after she had been woken up on a Cerberus operating table too soon, the scars on her body were another matter.

But she resisted the urge to pull away and instead tried to focus on the tingling sensation of his fingertips tracing over her scars. It was subtle, but she could tell he was plying the sensitive skin with a delicate application of his biotics, and to her surprise it was maddeningly pleasurable. Without warning, he let his biotics flare slightly at the same moment he bit down on her lower lip. Jane let out a whimpering mewl that turned into a moan as the simultaneous sensations of pleasure and pain washed through her.

Jane slid her hand up to rake through Kaidan’s hair, her fingers curling slightly and tugging, gently tilting his head back and exposing more of his neck to her.

“Kaidan,” she panted against his mouth, “I love you, too.” She dragged her lips away from his. “So. Fucking. Much.” Each word was murmured against his skin as she began to trail kisses along his lightly stubbled jaw and down the side of his neck. Jane could smell the spice of his soap and the subtle scent of eezo on him, and it was driving her crazy.

Breathing him in was like breathing oxygen; she needed it to live, and she couldn’t get enough of him, never enough. She wasn’t sure how she’d survived so long without him. Jane rocked her hips desperately against him as he bucked his hips up to meet her, his cock grinding against her wet panties. Kaidan groaned, and she felt the noise rumble through his chest.

His fingers found the hem of her shirt, and he began tugging at the fabric, trying to remove it. After only a brief hesitation, Jane gave Kaidan one last kiss before slowly sitting up, allowing him to pull her top up over her head. When her shirt had been removed, he tossed it aside and moved his hands to her waist, stilling her movements against him.

For a long moment, they gazed at each other in the near dark. Kaidan looked up at her, his eyes roving over her body, seeming to assess her in a way that caused Jane to have to fight off the instinct to cover herself. She knew her dark red hair must be a tousled mess, as it always was first thing in the morning. Her lips felt puffy after long minutes of kissing, her bottom lip probably swollen where he had bitten her. The soft blue light emanating from her cabin’s fish tank cast an eerie glow over them both, and she knew it must be illuminating the silvery scars that marred her skin—the thicker, angrier-looking scar that trailed down her sternum and the thinner ones that darted underneath her breasts, down one side of her abdomen, and across again, just along her pelvis. All of it undeniable evidence of just what it had taken to rebuild her during those two years when he had thought her dead, when she _had_ been dead. She heard him suck in a breath, and she knew he was thinking the same thing she was.

He tentatively moved one hand up from her waist, settling his palm on the center of her chest, directly over the scar on her sternum. Her heart was absolutely pounding in her chest; she didn’t think she’d ever felt so vulnerable or laid bare in her life. She trusted him, but still she shifted her gaze to a spot on the pillow next to his head, unwilling to watch his face as he slowly traced the scar down between her breasts. She wasn’t sure she could handle whatever she might see in his eyes. Disgust? Fear? Pity? She was too afraid to look. For a long minute, Jane felt frozen in place, barely breathing and trying not to tremble as his fingers traced over the entire map of scars—the price of her resurrection—etched on her skin.

When he was done, he raised his eyes to meet hers again and brought his hand to her cheek, drawing her gaze back to his. She didn’t know what she expected to see in his face when their eyes met, but something in Kaidan’s expression gave her pause. He was looking up at her with such love and adoration, her breath caught in her throat. He had seen all of her now, seen _everything_ , and he hadn’t rejected her. He still thought she was beautiful, scars and all.

“So beautiful,” he murmured, as if he could read her thoughts. And she almost laughed then, because if anyone probably _could_ read her thoughts, it was Kaidan. Instead, she just smiled at him and brought her own hand up to cover the one he had pressed against her cheek, brushing her thumb against the back of his hand.

Kaidan sat up then and before Jane could react, he flipped them over, pinning her beneath him with his body as he moved her arms over her head, holding her wrists in place with a firm hand.

“Hey!” she squealed, squirming slightly under his weight.

“Hmmm, ‘hey’ what?” he asked, leaning in to pepper kisses down her neck. He traveled slowly, pausing over her racing pulse and then moving down to nip at her collarbone.

Jane was about to reply when Kaidan released her wrists and shifted lower. She left her arms resting above her head as his tongue flicked across her left nipple and he began gently squeezing her right breast with his hand. Her eyes drifted closed, and she arched her back into his touch.

“I want— _mmm_...” She broke off mid-thought as she felt Kaidan’s lips close over her nipple, his teeth grazing the delicate skin. He bit down gently and tugged, causing her to whimper.

“What were you going to say?” His tone was playful, and even though her eyes were still closed, she swore she could practically _hear_ him grinning up at her. His mouth left her breast, and he began to kiss his way down her abdomen, stopping only to dip his tongue into her navel.

“Hmm? Oh—I, uh, can’t remember,” she mumbled almost incoherently, his attentions causing her to lose a grasp on her thoughts. When his mouth reached the edge of her panties, Jane was practically panting with want. He paused, and she sensed that he was waiting for her permission to continue. Gods, of course she wanted him to continue. She didn’t ever want him to stop.

“ _Please_ ,” she begged, shifting her hips off the bed slightly in clear invitation. His fingers hooked in the waistband of her panties, and he began to slowly peel them down over her thighs and her calves, until he finally tugged them free from her feet. She only knew he had tossed them across the room because she heard the soft sound of fabric hitting the carpet. He slid to the edge of the bed, and Jane opened her eyes to watch as he stood and removed his own underwear before tossing them to the floor as well. Then the bed shifted with his weight again as he began to move back up the mattress, and she felt the soft brush of his lips tracing a path up the back of her calf and along the inside of her thigh.

“I’ve missed you,” he murmured against her skin as he placed his hands on her knees, parting her for him. He settled between her legs, sliding one hand up to her hip to gently hold her in place, and Jane practically shivered as he lowered his mouth to the apex of her thighs.

“Gods, Kaidan, I’ve missed you, too,” she breathed, gasping in a breath when she felt the first lap of his tongue sliding along her folds. Her mind began to buzz, blissfully blank, as her entire being was focused on Kaidan and his tongue. She had forgotten how skilled he was with that tongue of his. And she had forgotten just how easy it was to let the rest of the galaxy fall away when she was with him.

Almost without thinking, she brought one of her arms down—had she kept them positioned above her head this whole time?—and slid a hand over Kaidan’s head, combing her fingers through his dark hair. The contact caused a slight static spark between them, and when Kaidan groaned at the sensation, she _felt_ the vibrations against her core as he continued to devour her. Encouraged by her subsequent moan, he redoubled his efforts, adding a finger which he slipped inside her, coaxing an even louder moan from her.

“Come for me, Jane,” he murmured, his voice soft but demanding as he slid his finger out of her and pressed it against her hypersensitive clit, applying _just_ the right amount of pressure…

“Mmm, yes—no, _wait_ ,” she said, nearly losing herself to him. He paused and she lifted her head up so she could see him, looking into his eyes as he peered up at her with a slight expression of concern on his face. “I just… I need _you_.” She tugged gently on the hair she still had threaded through her fingers, and he nodded his acquiescence, shifting until he had moved up the bed and positioned himself over her, his hands placed on either side of her head. He tangled his fingers in the red tresses that were splayed across her pillow.

“Are you sure you're ready?” he asked almost reverently, gazing down at her.

Jane raised her head and pressed her lips to his, tasting herself on him, and breathed her reply against his mouth. “I’m sure,” she whispered as she kissed him again.

He lowered his hips then, slotting himself carefully against her, his cock nudging at her slick entrance. While their lips were still molded together in a heated kiss, Kaidan gently rocked his hips against hers, slowly pushing inside of her, taking his time. He seemed to sense that she needed a moment to adjust to him; she hadn't specifically come out and said it, but he had likely realized that she hadn’t had sex in a long while and not at all in this body, not since Cerberus had—oh, Gods, she needed to think about literally anything else besides what Cerberus had done to her right now—

“I’ve got you, it’s alright,” he murmured, pulling back from their kiss and invoking the words he had said earlier to calm her and bring her back to him, once again displaying his uncanny ability to read her mind. Jane opened her eyes, which she hadn’t even realized she’d closed, and saw that he was watching her carefully to see that she was ready before he moved again. She nodded at him, then pressed her forehead to his, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Kaidan began moving against her, pulling back and then thrusting into her again, burying himself almost to the hilt. With the first such movement, she cried out in a mixture of some pain but mostly pleasure, hands grasping at his back as if she could pull them even closer together than they already were. She began arching her own hips to meet his, rediscovering the familiar rhythm between them. She remembered just how good they were together.

Suddenly, she felt his hand move to her thigh, sliding down until he could grasp her leg and bring it around his waist. The change in position had his cock sliding into her at a slightly different angle, hitting her at just the right spot so that she could feel her pleasure ratcheting up toward mind-numbing bliss.

“Kaidan, _I’m_ —” she gasped, clinging to him as if all she could do was hang on for dear life as if they were accelerating towards some inevitable moment of spontaneous combustion—which, she supposed, in a way they were.

“I know, me, too,” he panted, then buried his face in her neck as he brought himself to full hilt inside her, his grunts and shuddering thrusts indication enough that he was nearing his release.

“ _Oh, fuck,_ ” Jane cried out, the full force of her climax rolling through her at the same time as she felt Kaidan spilling himself inside of her. They stayed joined together, riding the waves of their simultaneous orgasms, wringing out the last vestiges of pleasure from this moment—a reuniting of two broken souls that even death itself hadn't been able to keep apart. As cheesy as it sounded, Jane thought that being with Kaidan was like finding the missing piece of herself. During that tumultuous year they had spent apart, that empty part of her soul had been filled with darkness and loneliness and death. But Kaidan was the exact opposite—he was light and love and life. Jane felt gloriously, deliriously happy, and when Kaidan finally pulled himself from her and collapsed on the bed beside her, she rolled onto her side so she could gaze at him.

“I love you,” she said.

He reached out a hand and brushed a damp, loose strand of her red hair out of her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. “I love you, too.” She curled into him then, ducking her head into his chest so that he could rest his chin atop her head. He embraced her, pulling her close to him as they both calmed their breathing and simply clung to each other in the dark.

As they lay quietly together, Jane was reminded of the first night they had spent together back before Ilos, when Kaidan had told her that she made him feel human. She hadn't been entirely sure what he meant by it at the time, but now... After this? After what they had just shared? She thought she knew what he meant.

And if mornings with Kaidan could always make her feel like this, this was how she wanted to wake up every day for the rest of her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I am currently working on a piece called “Things Don’t Change; We Change,” which tells this Shepard’s colonist-background Mindoir story. Shepard’s flashback in this scene references events that are told there.


End file.
